Rethinking Women and Their Bodies in the Age of Biotechnology: Feminist Commentaries on the Hwang Affair

Many Korean women felt strongly positive about donating their eggs for Hwang Woo Suk’s research, in spite of the fact that Hwang was accused of fraud. It is said that there is a kind of unique ‘egg donation culture’ among Korean women, which urged them to donate their eggs for his research. However, positing such a Korean ‘egg donation culture’ does not seem to give a sufficient explanation of why so many Korean women were seemingly willing to provide their own eggs for Hwang’s research. Instead, we suggest that egg donation issues in the Hwang affair can be interpreted under the paradoxical context, in which Korean women are situated in the age of biotechnology. On the one hand, the invisibility of women as subjects in the public sphere led to their lack of social control over ova trafficking and made it possible for a huge number of eggs to be supplied secretly for Hwang’s team. The patriarchal structure of family, the myth of economic growth, and the restricted activities of feminist organizations are possible contributors to the invisibility of Korean women. On the other hand, in the practices of bodily technologies such as cosmetic surgery and reproductive technologies, Korean women have been highly visible. With the help of those technological instruments, women have been empowered to own their own bodies and to have them at their disposal. We argue that these dualistic realities of women as egg owners can explain the egg donation culture among Korean women in the Hwang affair.

Miracles of love: The use of metaphor in egg donor ads1

In recent years, the appearance of egg donor advertisements in American college newspapers, sometimes offering five‐ and six‐figure fees to ‘genetically gifted’ donors, has given rise to critical comment on both sides of the Atlantic, and has caused some to fear that the use of these procedures will eventually result in the creation of ‘designer babies’ with preselected genetic qualities. Whether such fears will be realized depends, to a great extent, upon how both the participants themselves and society as a whole come to view and understand these procedures. This article explores emerging images of assisted reproduction through an analysis of the use of metaphor in egg donor ads that appeared in the student newspaper of the University of California, Los Angeles. I argue that the attitudes displayed in these ads result from a mapping of existing cultural stereotypes associated with biological parenthood, including the role of childbearing in marriage and ‘coupledom’, onto the assisted‐reproduction process, and that these metaphors are used precisely because they construct this cultural model and adapt it to the new reality of the assisted‐conception experience.     

Incorporating physiology into parasitoid behavioral ecology: the allocation of nutritional resources

A critical problem faced by most theoretical studies of parasitoid behavior and population dynamics has been the paucity of empirically obtained information about the pattern of resource allocation to egg production and metabolic maintenance in relation to adult diet in female parasitoids. This review calls for a shift from traditional manipulative feeding studies to studies that quantify the energetic budget of parasitoids and which take into account the dynamic nature of metabolic processes. As guidelines, we highlight the advances made along these lines with other insect groups and some of the simplest tools already available today for fulfilling this goal. Received: December 22, 1998 / Accepted: January 12, 1999     

Surrogacy: The experience of Greek commissioning women

BackgroundAvailable studies on surrogacy are extremely limited. Findings suggest that surrogacy is experienced as problem free, with a significant number of commissioning mothers maintaining contact with the surrogates over time.AimTo explore the experiences of Greek commissioning women regarding the surrogacy arrangement and birth of a child through surrogacy.MethodsThe data of this study were collected from 7 intended mothers who had either a long history of infertility or serious health problems. Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and analysed employing content analysis.FindingsThe analysis of the women's accounts revealed three themes: (a) a shared journey, (b) the birth of a long-awaited child, and (c) the surrogacy disclosure. The surrogacy process became the women's affairs, with their partners offering backstage support. A very close bond was developed with the surrogates, characterised by daily contacts and care-giving behaviours. While this bond was abruptly discontinued after the child's birth, it was interiorised with all participants being grateful to their surrogate. The timing and content of the surrogacy disclosure to family and child(ren) were carefully chosen by participants, who avoided providing information when egg donation was involved.ConclusionFindings are reassuring for women who want to parent a child through a surrogate arrangement, and suggest that the availability of counselling services may help intended mothers to cope with disclosure issues.     

缩宫素对鸡产蛋滞留难产症的疗效探讨

缩宫素对123例本地成年母鸡产蛋滞留难产症的临床治疗观察,其结果:缩宫素组与对照1、2组的治愈率比较,均具有极显著性差异(P<0.01)。     

近代华资企业直接对外贸易的探索与践行——以20世纪20年代茂昌蛋品公司为例

近代,外商长期把持着中国对外贸易出口权,并借此最大限度地攫取利益。为了摆脱外商对中国蛋品贸易的控制,成立于1923年的华资企业上海茂昌蛋品公司立志从事直接对外贸易。在“雇用外人为我服务”的理念下,茂昌公司高薪聘请外籍人员,不仅成功解决了技术、运输等难题,还构建了一个以自己子公司——伦敦海昌公司——为核心,以世界工业冷藏食品巨头美商斯威夫特公司、英商洛士林洋行为主要代理商的庞大且高效的国际市场销售网络。经过激烈的竞争,茂昌蛋品公司不仅挫败了外资蛋品企业的联合打压,并在短短几年内迅速成长为中外同业中最具实力的企业。茂昌公司的这一成就在近代中国对外贸易史中是极为罕见的。对茂昌公司的研究不仅有助于补充近代华资企业探索直接对外贸易领域的不足,还有助于重新审视以及评价近代华资企业的竞争活力。     

IBD高免蛋黄抗体注射及口服被动免疫保护效果评价

本文报道了IBD高免蛋黄抗体蛋黄液(yAbs)及yAbs离心上清液(yAbss)和三氯甲烷萃提液(yAbsa)三种样品皮下注射和口服给药被动免疫保护效果。人工攻毒试验结果:皮下注射IBDyAbs和yAbss的两组获得全保护,发病率为0;注射yAbsa组发病率为10.0％(1/10),无死亡,而这三种样品口服给药的三个组与空白对照组的发病率和死亡率差异不显著(P>0.05).发病率分别为90％(9/10),70％(7/10)和50.0％(5/10),死亡率分别为30％(3/10)、20％(2/10)和10.0％(1/10)。琼脂扩散试验检测血清抗体阳转及消长结果:IBD蛋黄抗体大剂量口服及手术后直接十二指肠注入组鸣只血清抗体始终全部为阴性;而注射组则在注射后3-12h内血清中可以检出IBD抗体且持续至48h以上。试验结果表明,IBD高免蛋黄抗体只能采取皮下或肌肉注射才能产生被动免疫保护怍用,胃肠道给药不能产生被动免疫保护作用,制备方法对IBD蛋黄抗体的保护效果无影响。     

四川白鹅蛋品质研究

本试验对四川白鹅蛋品质进行了研究。结果表明,四川白鹅蛋重127.98g,蛋形指数1.452,蛋壳厚0.504mm,密度1.084,哈夫单位83.57,蛋白比例51.09％,蛋黄比例35.97％,蛋壳比例为12.94％,胡萝卜素12.88mg/100g。同时,本试验对四川白鹅蛋的氨基酸进行了测定,表明其氨基酸结构较平衡。     

现代主义的生存悖论——舍伍德·安德森《鸡蛋的胜利》的现代主义解读

人类为了更好地生存,可以自由选择自身的存在价值,然而在现代工业化背景下,选择本身成为一种荒诞和无意义的存在,甚至导致了人类主体性的丧失和精神的畸形,呈现一种悖论式的存在。以安德森的短篇小说代表作《鸡蛋的胜利》为例,结合美国现代工业化时代背景下"美国梦"的变异和现代主义文学特点对安德森小说中体现的这一现代主义生存悖论予以具体分析,探讨在工业化过程中人的失落和畸变,以及现代主义生存悖论下的个人选择。     

城堡里的女人——《神谕女士》中三个隐文本的囚禁主题

玛格丽特·阿特伍德的长篇小说《神谕女士》在表层叙事之下隐藏了《夏洛特姑娘》、《拉普索》和《蓝胡子的蛋》三个文本,这三个故事都有一个共同的主题即女性被囚禁。阿特伍德虽在小说中用三个隐文本来表达囚禁主题,表现了主人公琼及其母亲“被身体囚禁”和“被囚禁的身体”的困境以及以蓝胡子的城堡为代表的男性权力空间。但实际上小说的几条叙述线索却统一在了《蓝胡子的蛋》中男女两性权力配置的模式上。